New Delhi (The Hawk): In addition to financing terrorism, Pakistan has promoted drug smuggling into Kashmir. The security forces have warned that the neighbouring nation is recalibrating its hybrid war tactics in Jammu and Kashmir, where narco-terrorism is becoming a more important weapon.
Since the late 1980s, when terrorism established a foothold in Kashmir, Pakistan's proxy war has been predominantly fuelled by the entrance of trained terrorists into the Valley. Local youngsters were enticed to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, where they were trained in terrorist actions.
Through a network of separatists and religious leaders, Pakistan was able to provide financial support. With the implementation of demonetisation, the repeal of Article 370, and the crackdown on separatists, the money trail has been completely eliminated. Pakistan has shifted its focus to narcotics smuggling in order to continue sponsoring terrorist organisations.
The term 'narco-terrorism' refers to the relationship between drug cartels and terrorists that facilitate and finance terrorist acts. Pakistan must maintain the connection in Kashmir in order to keep the region unstable. It has been smuggling drugs across the Line of Control and the International Border in Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab, as well as using drones.
The BSF, Army, and J&K Police have dismantled and detained numerous narco-terror modules supported by Pakistan. Numerous of these individuals are members of terrorist organisations like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen.
After a wounded terrorist went back to Pakistan in August 2022, the Border Security Force (BSF) discovered eight packages of heroin worth Rs 8 crore in the Samba district.
In September, the J&K Police apprehended a Punjabi couple with 7 kg of heroin in the Udhampur district. Additional DGP Mukesh Singh stated that the duo was from Amritsar's Ram Tirath Road and was transporting the drugs in their vehicle. The couple smuggled drugs over state lines.
In October, 21.5 kg of heroin were seized from a vehicle going for Punjab in Udhampur. The truck driver was communicating with a Pakistani handler using a social media programme. The authorities asserted that the motorist had previously visited the Valley two or three times.
The J&K Police have recovered unlawful shipments worth hundreds of crores this year alone.
Indian security and intelligence authorities have disrupted the network of Pakistani terrorist organisations by capturing terrorists' associates and freezing their bank accounts.
Recently, J&K DGP Dilbag Singh stated that Pakistani narco-terrorism posed the greatest challenge to the security forces.
He had stated, "While the police are efficiently combating narco-terrorism by dismantling units, much more must be done."
In its September report, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) disclosed that 1,681 cases were registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in J&K in 2021. Around 357 incidents of drug possession for personal use were reported. Approximately 1,324 occurrences of possession of drugs for trafficking were recorded.
In 2019, over 3,850 cases of IV heroin misuse were reported, while in 2021 that figure increased to 13,200.
In the first three months of 2021-2022, the J&K Police conducted a massive operation against drug smuggling, arresting over 1,232 drug dealers and filing 867 FIRs.
As Pakistan is responsible for the smuggling of drugs into Jammu and Kashmir, the security agencies keep a strict vigilance in the border regions, including Uri, Kupwara, Rajouri, and Poonch.
ISI, Pakistan's intelligence organisation, provides assistance for drug smuggling. It is believed that smuggling is essential to its covert military activities, especially those in Kashmir.
This was revealed by Pakistan's former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, in an interview with the Washington Post on September 12, 1994, titled 'Heroin plan by senior Pakistanis suspected'
The article asserts "Sharif asserted that three months after his election as Prime Minister in November 1990, Gen. Aslam Beg, then chief of army staff, and Gen. Asad Durrani, then head of the military's Inter-Services Intelligence bureau (ISI), informed him that the armed forces needed more money for covert foreign operations and wished to raise it through large-scale drug deals.
"Since the end of the war in Afghanistan in 1989, Western nations — mostly the United States — have stopped funnelling money and arms through the ISI to Afghan mujahideen insurgents fighting the Soviet-backed Kabul government, according to military sources.
"Without the foreign finances, it has been impossible for the agency to maintain the same level of activities in other areas, such as Kashmir, where militants are fighting Indian troops across the border. Such operations are increasingly supported by private organisations, such as the Jamiat-i-Islami, a prominent fundamentalist political party."
As evidenced by the interview transcripts, the increasing drug use for terrorism and business is the covert policy of the Pakistani government. What is occurring in Kashmir is really a continuation of the pattern.
Since Jammu and Kashmir is located in close proximity to the golden crescent — a moniker given to South Asia's opium-producing countries Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan — which generates 80% of the world's opium, the drug flow may be readily channelized.
This sort of terrorism is difficult to combat.
J&K Police Chief Dilbag Singh stated that narco-terrorism is the greatest problem for security forces, as the neighbouring country seeks to ruin the younger generation on the one hand, and use the profits from narcotics sales to fund militancy on the other.
Previously, former J&K DGP S.P. Vaid stated that the drugs scourge is a greater threat than terrorism in the UT, and that contrabands are being "pumped from across the border by persons who want our future generations to be addicted to narcotics so that they can prosper in their nefarious schemes."
The NCRB report on drug misuse in Jammu and Kashmir predicts a 35 percent increase in cases of drug abuse in 2021 compared to those recorded in 2020.
According to a research by the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre at AIIMS, nearly six lakh persons in Jammu and Kashmir abuse drugs.
The patient intake data at the Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (IMHANS) in Kashmir attested to the escalating problem and revealed that ninety percent of drug users were between the ages of seventeen and thirty-three.
Kashmir is a test case for the wicked objectives of Pakistan. First, it used the religious feelings of the Kashmiris to create a false narrative of a 'Muslim Kashmir' opting naturally for Pakistan, and then it pushed terrorism under the guise of 'armed struggle' for 'freedom'.
Due to design failure, it is currently forcing illicit commodities, particularly heroin, into the Valley. In this sleazy game, Kashmiri society and the youth in particular are being destroyed.
(Inputs from Agencies)